The most challenging, and often most annoying part in overclocking your new uber graphics card is the voltage adjustment. Not everyone is technically gifted enough to apply a voltage mod to increase the GPU/Memory voltage. (Never mind bringing in the risk involved in this process.) In the past, only MSI and Abit offered us the ability to adjust the voltages with software. ATi has finally made the leap and given overclockers a reason to celebrate. In their new RADEON X1800 series they have given us the ability to modify the GPU/DDR voltages without using a voltage mod. Unfortunately, this useful feature never screamed out enough to the users like it deserved to be, until now. This step is giving a lot of respect to ATi from the overclockers. From now on you can exponentially limit your risk to the card without a voltage mod. All you need is the ATiTool or R520 Overclocking utility.

Overclocking has now become much more user friendly (this means you first timers). Just visit your local/online retailer and find yourself a decent cooler and your good to go. It is really nice to see an official movement towards extreme overclocking from ATi. We had the chance to send some questions to W1zzard, the author of one the best RADEON overclocking utility, which is the famous ATiTool.

NGOHQ: "We love that you`ve added the voltage adjust feature in the latest builds of ATiTool. Can you give us some insight about this feature?" W1zzard: "I personally think it`s a good way to bring voltmodding to the masses. I must mention, voltmodding does pose a risk to your card even accomplished by software or hardware modding, its much safer using the voltage adjust feature provided now."

NGOHQ: "Did ATi provided you with the information you needed to add this handy feature to ATiTool?" W1zzard: "No. Unfortunately, ATI has never been helpful in any way during any stages of ATiTool development."

NGOHQ: "Do you think it`s possible to add the same feature for NVIDIA GPUs?" W1zzard: "Most NVIDIA GPUs support voltage changes already. So, while it`s possible the problem is finding the method to do it."

NGOHQ: "Have you tried to contact NVIDIA about it?" W1zzard: "Again, there is no manufacturer`s support for "tool writers" from NVIDIA either."

We would like to thank W1zzard from techPowerUp! for his time, and we hope he will continue with his AWESOME work. It is a real shame to see that both ATi, and NVIDIA, are not supporting guys like Wizzard. And, it is even more shame on NVIDIA for not providing us with this handy feature. After all, overclocking is fun! But remember, it does void the warranty and it is very risky, especially with voltage adjustments.